Rejection and its resultant anger are two pillars around which East of Eden’s plot is built. The story is heavily influenced by these two principles, and they constitute the vast majority of thematic and pivotal plot points in the novel. The overarching theme is illustrated in its majority through Steinbeck’s repeated instances of rejection and anger. Steinbeck illustrates these emotions most clearly in the characters of Charles, Cathy, and Caleb. Their characters are wildly different, but their emotions and reactions are remarkably alike.

Charles is the first personification of Cain in the novel, a complete foil to his brother Adam, and unsurprisingly susceptible to rage. The first and most blatant illustration of Charles’s rage is seen in his reaction to losing at peewee to Adam, “[swinging] at his head and knocking him out, [then] kicking him heavily in the stomach. ” (Steinbeck p. 23). With the rejection of his idea of his inherent superiority, Charles reacted with savage brutality. This pattern repeats itself later when Charles reacts to Cyrus’s preference of Adam’s gift over his own, accusing Adam of trying to take his father away from him.

He reacts with spontaneous violence once more, leaving Adam feeling “punches on temples, cheeks, eyes, his lip split and tatter over his teeth. ” (p. 30). Charles once again illustrates his cold and distant personality, reacting violently toward Adam out of jealousy of his father’s love. Charles’s jealousy continues beyond childhood, and chastised his brother upon returning home from war as well. However, despite his incredible inclination for anger, he was still able to recognize the greater evil in Cathy. Cathy is undeniably the angriest character in the novel.

She reacts violently and without remorse toward all those in her way. She is rarely faced with rejection, but, regardless, is virtually always angry. However, when she does face the incredible rarity of rejection, her fury reaches unprecedented levels. Cathy grows a vehement disrespect for her parents at a young age, and early enough in her life takes action by burning them alive and faking her own death in order to rid herself of the burden that was her family. “The owner’s house was burned and the owner ostensibly burned with it. ” (p. 86).

This inherent fury persists just as powerfully throughout the rest of her life. When Adam confronts her in her whorehouse, and refuses to allow himself to be tempted and charmed by her, she explodes in rage at her failure at manipulation. She shrieks at her bodyguard, Ralph, “I said give him the boots. Break his face! ” (p. 323). Facing the painful rejection of her reality of being capable of manipulating anyone and everyone, she defaults to violence as a means of getting what she wants out of Adam. This rejection of her ability to influence occurs again later, in her meeting with Cal.

Cal confidently says to her, “I’m my own. I don’t have to be you. ” (p. 462). Shocked and in horror of his insolence, as well as his resistance to her evils, she bellows at him to get out of her room and out of her whorehouse. She feels rage once again, but this time she also feels a new emotion – fear. Where before there was only contempt for humanity there is now envy. Cal had broken the very foundation upon which she based her life and her entire philosophy, and naturally, she felt nothing but contempt for her son. The theme of rejection and anger comes full circle with Cal himself.

Cal is not alone in his manifestation of the biblical Cain, but he is certainly the most direct recreation. As a result, his anger at his brother and from the rejection at the hands of his Father is a truly deep and painful wound. Cal expresses his anger in a much more decisive and contained fashion than the more chaotic beings of Charles and Cathy. Cal is first met with rejection in one of his very first appearances of the novel, when he and Adam are introduced to Abra. Abra looked at Adam and felt “the longing and the itching burn in her chest that is the beginning of love. ” (p. 343).

Cal identified this immediately, and took it upon himself to tease her when Adam ran away to fetch the rabbit they killed a as a gift for her. Cal deals with his anger and frustration later in his life by taking walks late at night, and in extreme cases, drinking. Cal’s greatest and quintessential rejection is at the hands of his father, Adam, when he offers him the money he earned as a gift. “Cal doggedly lighted bill after bill until all were burned. ” (p. 566). Albeit a definitive act of rage, Cal’s passionate acts of anger are far less cruel-intentioned than those of his uncle and mother.

He is a truly kind-hearted person. Rejection and anger are two fundamentally connected themes of East of Eden. The two are inherent components of the parable of Cain and Abel, which is itself a massive theme of the novel. It is difficult to read a chapter without either of the two emotions being a fundamental component of the narrative. Steinbeck masterfully illustrates the human condition through his ceaseless repetition of these two emotions and the personification thereof seen in Charles, Cathy, and Caleb. Works Cited Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

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